MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Now that the NBA season will officially begin in December, it’s time for the Miami Heat to figure out exactly what to do with its roster.

The Heat’s biggest need is at the center position. Last season, the Heat put out a center by committee approach with NBA players from the seniors circuit like: Erick Dampier, Jamaal Magloire, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Each player tried to spark a big run for the Heat, but none had a significant long-lasting impact on the roster.

That’s why the Heat could turn to former Sacramento Kings center Samuel Dalembert. The Haitian-native has said he would like to play for the Heat. He owns a home in South Florida and has approximately 50 family members who live here.

Dalembert stands 6’11” and weighs 250 pounds. For his career, he averages 8.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and nearly 2 blocks per game while playing roughly 26 minutes per game.

He’s a nine-year veteran and would immediately fill a huge void the Heat have in their roster. But, the question is will he be willing to play for what the Heat could pay.

That’s where the new collective bargaining agreement comes into play. The Heat will have a full mid-level exception to sign Dalembert if the team wants to use it on him.

But the Heat may not want to tie-up the full mid-level exception on Dalembert, especially on a multi-year contract.

Plus, Dalembert will also be coveted by Houston and possibly the New York Knicks.

Still, Dalembert would work perfectly in the Heat’s offense. He would keep opponents honest on the outside to free up Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and also allow Bosh to move more freely instead of having to play the center position as often.

Signing Dalembert would also push Joel Anthony to the second-line to come in and play with Udonis Haslem to give Bosh and Dalembert a breather.

If the Heat chooses not to go hard after Dalembert, there are a few other options available.

The team could also try to acquire Tyson Chandler, Nene, or Kwame Brown. The Heat is also expected to offer a tryout to former Knicks bust Eddy Curry, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

MIAMI, July 25 (UPI) — Former NBA great and current Miami Heat executive Alonzo Mourning was cited Monday for leaving the scene of an accident, a police report indicated.

A Florida Highway Patrol report said the former Heat star had been charged with a misdemeanor in connection with a July 17 accident in Miami, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

Authorities said a vehicle carrying Mourning and his wife collided with another car that had been obstructing the road due to a previous crash. The report said Mourning checked on the other car’s driver, 21-year-old William Candalerio of North Miami, and then left the scene without giving information.

Mourning later notified the Highway Patrol about the incident and was told to return to the crash site, Sgt. Thomas Pikul of the FHP told the Sun Sentinel.

Candalerio, who was cited for careless driving in the first crash, is suing Mourning for negligence, his attorney announced last week.

Pikul said alcohol was not involved in either of the mishaps and that neither Candalerio nor Mourning were treated for any crash-related injuries.

Miami Heat backup center Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes), who came along for the ride with LeBron James(notes) from the Cleveland Cavaliers to South Florida last summer, recently exercised his player option for next season.

However, it isn’t clear that Big Z will be returning. The 7-3 Lithuanian has spent 13 seasons in the NBA, pulled down 6,191 rebounds, blocked 1,327 shots and scored 10,976 points. But despite exercising his player option, retirement remains a possibility.

“If I play, it will be in Miami,” Ilgauskas told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Right now I’m just kind of on the fence.”

Ilgauskas spent 12 seasons with the Cavs after being drafted with the 20th pick of the first round in the 1996 NBA draft.

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Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

Related: Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat

When LeBron James(notes) and the Miami Heat visited the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 2, it was a nearly unprecedented situation in the annals of NBA lore. With Clevelanders at extremely high levels of anger regarding LeBron’s dastardly move to South Beach, law enforcement officials were on high alert. Of course, it turns out that fans just yelled a lot and the Heat won in a blowout. All things considered, it was pretty uneventful.

Since then, the Cavs have become the losingest team in the league, going on a league-record streak of futility after that loss and generally looking like a team many years away from contention. Things are quite depressing inside Quicken Loans Arena, and Cavs fans could use something to energize them.

Coincidentally, the Heat are now in Cleveland for Tuesday’s game against the Cavs. But Public Enemy No. 1 LeBron James expects a less crazed crowd this time out. From Ira Winderman for the South Florida Sun Sentinel (via Eye on Basketball):

“It can’t get no worse than it was December 2nd,” James said, as he prepared for his second homecoming. “I know that. I know that for a fact.”

From a basketball standpoint, at least from James’ perspective, it also probably can’t get any better. Not only did the All-Star forward score 38 in the Heat’s 118-90 blowout victory, but he scored 24 in the third quarter on 10-of-12 shooting.

The Heat exited The Q at 12-8, headed to one of the top records in the Eastern Conference; the Cavaliers exited 7-11, never to recover, now an NBA-worst 14-58.

“After that game,” James said, “we took off.”

Two things before we move on: First, by the rules of double negatives, LeBron is technically saying that the crowd will actually be worse this time, so everyone is reporting this incorrectly. Next, please note that the Heat “taking off” involved a run of good form against mediocre teams followed by the same kind of marginally disappointing losses to East powers like the Celtics and Bulls. Everything’s relative, I suppose.

All joking aside, LeBron has reasons to think that things will be less crazy: Time heals all wounds, I suppose, and most fans probably got their anger out in the first meeting between the teams. However, it’s worth noting that the first meeting between these teams came at a time when the Cavs were at least a passable squad rather than a historically inept operation. When facing the abyss of a terrible season, when fans react with increased anger. It’s easy to imagine some Cleveland fans not calming down, but actually getting angrier at LeBron for the way he did the Cavs dirty last summer.

That’s not to say that LeBron is in mortal danger right now, or that someone in a Dogg Pound mask is going to put a banana in the tailpipe of the Heat bus Tuesday night. But don’t be surprised if Cavs fans are no less upset during the game as they were in December, because the Cavs have given them few reasons to be happy this season.

Related: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat